ADVANCED MATERIALS FOR AGRICULTURE, FOOD AND ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY

The levels of toxic and microbial contamination in the food and environment are influenced by harvesting or slaughtering technologies and by the processes applied during food manufacture. With current cultivation methods, it is impossible to guarantee the absence of pesticides and pathogenic microorganisms in raw foods, both of plant and animal origin. Widespread and increasing incidence of foodborne diseases and the resulting social and economic impact on the world population have brought food and environmental safety to the forefront of ecological safety and public health concerns. The emerging field of advanced materials based on functional architectures offers potential solutions to some of the key performance challenges along with the improved sensitivity, longevity, stability, miniaturization and ruggedness, while reducing complexity and production cost. The overall purpose of this book is to generate new solutions to the technical challenges in easy and rapid detections of food toxicants, microorganisms and environmental pollutants.

The book focuses on the role of advanced materials in the food, water and environmental applications. The monitoring of harmful organisms and toxicants in water, food and beverages is mainly discussed in the respective chapters.